Mumbai crush Orissa by innings and 210 runs

Cuttack: Orissa`s lower order put up a fight but it only delayed the inevitable as Mumbai romped home by an innings and 210 runs to garner the entire six points from their Ranji Trophy Elite Division match on Friday.

Mumbai off-spinner Ramesh Powar was the wrecker-in-chief with a six-wicket haul in his 21.2 overs as Orissa, while following on, folded for 226 in their second innings. Resuming at 163/7 today, the wickets started tumbling pretty early with Basant Mohanty failing to add anything to his overnight 41. Mohanty was caught by Kaustubh Pawar off Powar. India pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who was playing in his first domestic match to test his fitness before travelling to Australia for India`s gruelling four-match Test series tour starting next month, went wicketless today. But Powar more than made up for it with his fine performance. After dismissing Mohanty, it was a matter of time before the rest of the lower order packed up but Lagnajit Samal (35) and Santosh Jena (39) managed to delay the inevitable with contrasting knocks. While Samal stayed put at the crease for 139 deliveries hitting six fours in between, Jena`s entertaining cameo took 48 balls and included half a dozen fours and a six. Samal was trapped LBW by Aavishkar Salvi while Jena was clean bowled by Powar. Brief Scores: Mumbai 1st Innings: 529 for 8 decl Orissa: 93 and 226 all out in 92.2 overs (Basant Mohanty 41, Santosh Jena 39, Ramesh Powar 6/57). PTI